badger



D. D. BADGER.

Iron House.

Patented Aug. 7, 1855.

UNITED STATES PATEN T OFFICE.

D. D. BADGER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IRON HOUSE.

Specificaton of Letters Patent No. 13,379, dated August '7, 1855.

To all whom it may concem:

Be it known that I, D. D. BADGER, of the city, County, and State of New York, haye invented a new and useful Improvement n the Construction of Iron Buildings; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specificat-ion, in which- Figure l is a vertical section of an iron breast summer or lintel and parts of the iron columns of the stories above and below. F ig. 2 is a plan of the breast summer or lintel, with horizontal sections of the columns above.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parte in both figures.

This invention consists in a certain method of securing the columns of the upper stories to the breast summers or lintels of the stories below, whereby in case of the interior of the building, the tie beams, etc., being destroyed by fire, the columns are prevented falling outward, but provision is made for their falling inward.

A, A, are the breast summers or lintels, having two flanches (a, a, running along their lower sides, and two other` fianches b, c, running along their upper sides. The fianches, a, a, receive between them and fit snugly to the heads of the columns B, of

the story below, and the fianches Z), c, receive between them the bases of the columns C, C', of the story above, but instead of fitting closely between the said fianches, there is space enough for keys (Z, (Z, to key up the columns from the front side. The fianch b, on the back side, c, is deeper than is necessary for the fianch b, on the front side, in order to allow the back of the column to have a deep hearing against it. The breast summers or lintels are Secured to the heads of the lower columns by bolts f, f, through the flanches a, a. The base of each column above rests on the horizontal face, e, of the breast summer or lintel and is bolt-ed to the back fianch c, by bolts g, g, and keyed up by a key (Z, which is driven in between its front side and the front fianch b, and serves to secure it against any lateral motion on the face, e. It will be well understood by reference to Fig 1, that any tendency to thrust outward the upper part of the column C, will tend to raise the back side of the base; such tendency will be counteracted by that side being firmly bolted to the broad fianch c, upon which the strain acts only directly upward and Will force the column down more firmly against the bed or horizont-al face e, of the breast summer or lintel; but when there is any great tendency to thrust the upper part of the said column C, inward there is a tendency to raise the front of the base and the strain then comes laterally upon the fianch Z), which would soon yield and there is nothing else to counteract this action but friction on the faces of the key (Z, consequently the columns and the superstructure fall inward. This, in cities, is of great importance, as the falling of the whole or great part of the front of an iron building across a street, might be the cause of a fearful loss of life. i

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

The method herein described of securing the bases of the columns to the breast summers or lintels by bolting each on the inner side to a broad fianch c, and keying it on the outer side by a key d, whereby they are properly Secured against any movement back or forth on the breast summers or lintels or against falling outward, but are not prevented from falling inward When they become insecure.

D. D. BADGER. VVit-nesses J. W. W. REED, WM. F. NISBT. 

